S.R. 312 bypass nearer to start

A new, $400,000 environmental study of the State Road 312 Extension corridor will move that long-delayed 9.2-mile bypass much closer to construction, county engineers said Friday.

Officials hope that this will be the first step in a process that will end five to 10 years from now with the completion of a beltway on the west side of St. Augustine.

When completed, the extension will help ease traffic on U.S. 1 and will open new areas to development.

The study will really be an update to a study completed in 1995, but it must be done to satisfy the requirements for federal funding and open the door to possible right of way acquisition next year.

Engineers from the firm of Prosser Hallock of Jacksonville, said last week that the study will be completed by mid-February, followed by a design and right-of-way study costing $1.6 million.

The cost of the extension would be $83.2 million, they said.

Darrell Locklear, county engineer, said both studies are required for federal highway funding.

"We will know exactly what (property) we need at that point," he said.

The $2 million cost of the project will come from a $30 million gasoline tax bond passed in late 2003.

Bernard J. O'Connor, director of transportation for Prosser Hallock, said the extension will begin about where S.R. 312 now ends at S.R. 207, near the St. Augustine Record building. The extension will cross Holmes Boulevard, County Road 214 and State Road 16, skirt the west edge of First Coast Technical Institute and St. Augustine Airport, and terminate with a flyover at U.S. 1 North near Venetian Boulevard.

"We need to move ahead with the preliminary engineering," O'Connor said. "The county has had to take action in the past to preserve right of ways, because development is happening in that area."

Phase I, from S.R. 207 to S.R. 16, will cost $47.8 million for construction, right of way, engineering and wetland mitigation. Phase II, from S.R. 16 to U.S. 1, will cost $35.4 million, O'Connor said.

"Those numbers will change as we go through our re-evaluation work," he said.

The road needs six overpasses: Holmes Boulevard, Northwood Drive, Buck Road, Four Mile Road, Woodlawn Road Extension and two over Florida East Coast railroad tracks. About 359 acres must be acquired, 73 of them wetlands. Also, 12 homes and five businesses will have to be relocated.

One of those firms is co-owned by Gary Wilson of Lakeview Dirt Co. Inc., 497 Holmes Blvd., who said he knows S.R. 312 is coming.

"We've already had discussions with the state's real estate people, but they say it might be way down the road," Wilson said. "It'll affect us. We own 30 acres across the street. They'll have to buy us a new office."

The 1995 study said "appropriate assistance from the FDOT will minimize any negative economic impacts resulting from displacements."

Joe Stephenson, director of public works for St. Johns County, said the state Department of Transportation told the county in 1987 that it would fund the S.R. 312 extension.

"But they've never done it," Stephenson said. "They kept telling us they didn't have the money. This road doesn't connect two urban areas or two regions. It's a bypass for one city. So it's not one of their higher priorities."

Stephenson said the extension was placed on the DOT work plan after Gov. Bob Martinez was elected.

"But the Legislature didn't appropriate the money, so the DOT had to go back and redo the work program," he said. "Traffic on U.S. 1 was already a major concern."

The 1995 study determined that S.R. 312's route "avoids disruption to West Augustine" and will aid the area's long-range growth.

By 2030, Prosser Hallock figures show, an average of 44,500 cars per day will drive the six lanes from S.R. 207 to C.R. 214. About 36,800 will drive the six lanes from C.R. 214 to S.R. 16. That number drops to 17,300 cars a day on four lanes over the most rural segment, S.R. 16 to U.S. 1.

Stephenson said the county's been "hoping, praying and lobbying" that DOT will refund the $2 million that county officials paid for the two studies.

"This has been one of the top three projects of the County Commission since the 1995 study was finalized," he said. "This has come before several different commissions and they have all been consistent. It was pushed as hard as it could be pushed."